


The first stage of grief

by Catharina2003



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF), Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Denial, Gen, TommyInnit's Death, Tubbo is in shock, Tubbo is mourning, first stage of grief, pure angst, tubbo angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:56:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29800521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catharina2003/pseuds/Catharina2003
Summary: No. No no no.TommyInnit couldn't be dead.Could he be?Or:Dream killed Tommy in prison and Tubbo found out.
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & Ranboo, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 2
Kudos: 64
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	The first stage of grief

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty much Tubbo's stream modified because he was too tired to actually act it out and it was all sprung upon him.

_Jack Manifold was killed by Tubbo_ using [Nightmare]_

_Jack Manifold was burned to the crisp while fighting Ranboo_

_TommyInnit was killed by Dream_

_Jack Manifold was burned to the crisp while fighting Tubbo__

"Oh that's funny" Ranboo remarked

"I stopped spawning on the top floor now, so I can just come back so much quicker" Jack said, exasperated. None of these deaths counted, as it wasn't done with malicious intention, which is why Tubbo did it, to be annoying. 

"Nice" Tubbo fired another arrow at Jacks head.

"Nice" Ranboo repeated Tubbo. "Still gonna shoot you."

Tubbo laughed, he was pretty tired, he had just logged out from a terrible speedrunning attempt in a broken world with Ranboo (They had killed the ender dragon, but they both knew it didn't really count. The last blow had been delivered by Bailey the crafting table though, so it had been worth the incredible effort and dying to the flying blocks)

Then they had logged in to the server to work some more of their hotel, it had all just been a funny idea, he and Ranboo had gotten platonically married and decided to build a rival hotel to that of Tommy's. It had been a joke, but in honesty, Tubbo missed Tommy. Yes, they would be competition, but it beat being hundreds of blocks away at all time. 

It was a bit unlucky that Tommy was in prison now, but if the 16-year-old had been here, he probably would have acted as impulse control to Tubbo, and he and Ranboo would have never gotten platonically married, and this wouldn't have happened in the first place. When Tommy would get out of prison they could do so many more things together again. 

Tubbo sighed in mock frustration as three of his arrows missed. They continued their bantering. 

"So, our hotel, we're not really making progress yet." Tubbo changed the subject after a while, not that he'd completely stopped trying to shoot Jack yet.

"I can tell by the fact it's just not as good as mine." 

"Nah, I think it is, actually" Ranboo replied.

Then their communicator rang another message: _TommyInnit left the game._

Tubbo frowned and read back. It said Tommy died. This couldn't be true right? This was just a regular respawn case? Or a joke?

He shook his head, it probably was just an accidental kill. Tommy respawned and then just decided to do something on another server for a while, he'd be back. It couldn't be a real kill, Tommy was on his last life, if it was a real kill... No, it couldn't be.

"Oh, Tommy was killed by Dream, that must mean he's now a ghost." Tubbo joked, as his mind was still reeling. He didn't want to think about the implications of this all. Tubbo suppressed a yawn, he really was tired. 

But still, something told Tubbo it might actually be real, and he didn't seem to be the only one. 

"Wait, he's for real dead?" Jack said, sounding conflicted. "He's for real dead, I cannot believe."

"Wait, wait wait wait wait wait." Tubbo couldn't wrap his mind around any of this. "Everyone shut up." This... this couldn't be true right?

"He's gone, he's gone forever." Jack seemed to try to be happy, Tubbo knew that Tommy had taken one of Jacks lives in the past, (Not that it mattered, Jack had already lost all of his three lives but just came back crawling out of hell because he'd pissed of whoever was in charge of death enough that he couldn't stay) so he suspected that Jack had been holding on to a bit of a grudge. 

To be precise, it was very hard to miss that grudge, especially after how Jack had commandeered the hotel faster than Tubbo had tried to commandeer literally any other building that had been built in the past month near the remains of L'Manberg. (The Jack Manifold/Big Innit Hotel, the McPuffy's, etc.) Not to mention the fact that something had been up with Jack surrounding the nuke test, that had very nearly killed Tommy. Tubbo had let it go for a while -it had only been suspicions right?- but now he looked closer. Jack replied in a very happy way, but there was an undercurrent of sadness in his voice. Quite the opposite of how he should have responded if he really did want Tommy gone. 

Still, Jack shouldn't try to sound so happy anyway. It was a bit disrespectful if he really did die. Right? "Now is not the time."

But maybe Tommy wasn't really dead. Maybe it all was just a prank. Or an accident. Dream had wanted Tommy alive right? Captured but alive? It was the only reason why Tubbo hadn't completely freaked out when he found out Tommy was in that prison cell. Dream had wanted Tommy alive. 

But then why did it say Dream killed him?

"Tommy's dead?" He couldn't believe it. 

He wanted to make some sort of joke, say something, anything, to lighten the mood. 

No one spoke. What if he just made a joke out of it. If he did, then he wouldn't have to think about it. 'Poggers.' He whispered. 

Jack and Ranboo both let out a shocked laugh, so did Tubbo, they were all laughing hysterically for a second. 

It was all just a joke. It wasn't real. It- It couldn't be real. If it was, he would have lost his best friend. The one person that had always eventually chosen his side, yes, they'd had their disagreements, but Tommy had always understood Tubbo best. Tommy... 

When had he started thinking of Tommy in past tense? No. He needed to stop that. Tommy was alive. Tommy had to be alive. 

"Isn't he your friend?" Jack questioned. 

"No, he is- he is- he is." Is. Not was. Is. "We're all freaking out."

"I don't think he's actually dead." Ranboo said, and Tubbo hoped he was right. 

"Maybe it was all staged... Maybe he faked his death..." But it sounded fake to his own ears.

He shot another arrow unthinkingly into the air.

"...to get out of the prison." Tubbo finished his own sentence. "Is he actually dead? -I don't know, I don't know if he's actually dead..."

"I don't think he was meant to actually die." Ranboo agreed with him. Trying to console him. Tubbo suspected Ranboo didn't believe it either. 

"Do you think we go over to the prison? See what's going on?"

Two confirming voices came back at him. To the prison they went. 

They tried to get Jack to stay behind, the guy wasn't even wearing any armor, but Jack just brushed it off. "I'll be fine, it's me." 

Tubbo wondered if Jack ever went back to Snowchester, it didn't seem that way. He had his own side of the vault, but it wasn't filled any more than his own part was. 

Jack had moved back to L'Manberg, Tommy had stayed living there, Puffy had stayed, Sam still lived there, even the prison was on the outskirts of the city. They'd all tried drifting away, but somehow, all of them came back. Even Tubbo and Ranboo still came to L'Manberg on at least a weekly basis, and now they were building the Bee 'n Boo hotel there also. A big part of the fact that L'Manberg still was so active, and was slowly coming back to live, was Tommy. 

But Tommy was... Nope.

He had to be alive. 

"I mean, at least, Sam hasn't died, so that means that Dream is still in Pandora's box and that's all that matters."

It's all that matters because Tubbo cannot bear to think of Tommy right now. He cannot. 

When they arrived at the prison, Sam was standing in the doorway, a haunted look on his face. Tubbo did not want to think about what that could mean. 

"Hi Sam." Ranboo yelled out from a distance. 

"Ayup Sam." Jack followed.

Sam used his communicator to send a private message to Tubbo. _"Can I speak to you alone for a second"_

"Hang on, Sam wants to speak to me, I'll be right back."

As he approached, Sam spoke up. "Tubbo." It sounded so broken, but he needed to know.

"Yo, what the hell happened in there?"

"I couldn't get there in time."

No. "In time for what?" 

Sam couldn't find the words. "I- I never- I didn't think that Dream would actually..." A pause. "Kill him." 

No. no. no. 

NO.

"What do you mean." It was all just so absurd, Tubbo nearly wanted to laugh. How could this happen?

"They... They were in the cell and..."

"But why was he locked in that cell in the first place?" Tubbo tried to interject. He wanted to lash out, because this couldn't be true. Somewhere in his mind he registered that denial and anger are the first two stages of grief, but he put it away again. He couldn't be grieving because Tommy couldn't be dead. He knew that statement was somewhat ironic, but he didn't care. 

"I- I gave them food because I wanted to try to figure out what happened and then.... He actually did it."

It couldn't be true. "Wait, how?" Surely... Surely this was all a mistake, he hadn't actually been killed by Dream. Right? 

His best friend hadn't actually been killed by Dream. Dream was supposed to kill him, kill Tubbo. He was supposed to leave Tommy alive. Tommy was supposed to survive. 

"What are you saying, exactly?" It couldn't be true, it couldn't be true, it couldn't be true.

"I'm saying that Tommy is gone."

No. 

Tubbo wanted to rage. To scream, to shout, but doing any of that would mean admitting it. It would mean admitting the fact that his best friend died when Tubbo hadn't seen him in over a week. It would mean that Tommy died, not in the heart of battle, not of old age, but as a 16-year-old kid, alone in a cell with the person he hated the most. Killed not by a sword, but by Dreams bare hands. 

He wanted to go into the prison, to see it for himself, but Sam wouldn't let him. He wanted to just joke around and hear Tommy's laughter. He wanted his best friend back. 

But he couldn't.

Of course he couldn't. 

His best friend was dead. 

He barely registered talking to Ranboo, who, much like himself was still trying to deny it. It was obvious Ranboo didn't believe his own words either, but Tubbo appreciated it nonetheless. Ranboo was just trying to uphold the lie a little longer. 

Tubbo went along with it, but they were both tired, shocked and neither of them really had the energy to keep talking for much longer, and their plans for building the hotel any further were quickly abandoned. 

Tubbo knew that Tommy wouldn't want him to be sad, and mope around for his death, Tommy would want him to just be happy and joke around. So now, Tubbo would just do the one thing he could, he would put on a brave and happy face, and he would continue joking and stay strong. And maybe, if he kept that up long enough, he might actually start believing it too. 

Maybe. 

He might be in denial about that too, he knew, but well, it was all he could do, so doing it he would. 

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote for the Dream SMP, how?  
> I wasn't even in this fandom until early January.  
> That was fast.


End file.
